Steampunk Internet

July 24, 2010 11:46 AM

Before the Internet, TV, or radio, there was the Telephone Newspaper

(also in PDF). Invented by Hungarian Tivadar Puskas, father of the telephone exchange, the Telephone Newspaper Service debuted in Paris in 1890 under the name Théâtrophone and was soon follow by Telefon Hírmondó in Budapest (1893) and Electrophone in London (1895). Subscribers could hear new reports, stock prices, and even simulcast concerts in stereo, all on a daily schedule.

posted by chrisulonic (5 comments total)

Is this article translated from Hungarian or something? Some of the sentences kind of hurt my brain. Example: " If the grievance is real, the editor tries to remove it by means of the soft answer that turns away wrath from the editorial head; if imaginary or absurd, the paper keeps the time-honored waste basket for its reception."
posted by mannequito at 12:15 PM on July 24, 2010

I think perhaps it was originally in German - the translation of the inventor's name into "English" as Theodore Buschgasch sounds more German than English - Puskás means something like rifleman.
posted by that possible maker of pork sausages at 12:56 PM on July 24, 2010

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
posted by loquacious at 1:27 PM on July 24, 2010

Thanks for sharing this. Its amazing how people dismiss lesser technologies in the present without even taking into consideration how much of a feat it was at that time.
posted by towrofstgh at 11:37 PM on July 24, 2010

Fax technology was invented around the same time, IIRC. Rather astonishing.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 1:59 PM on July 25, 2010